Coq au Vin:  A Mushroom and Apple Tango

This recipe comes from the team at Oakland-based Broth Baby, known for nutritious and flavorful bone broths. Here’s how they describe their version of a classic French dish:

Fall brings so many sensations with its cool crisp mornings, softly light afternoons, and early evenings. It also whets our appetites for earthier, warmer flavors like umami-rich mushrooms and crisp, tart fall apples. When paired, these two, with their complementary and contrasting hearty and bright flavors, dance a magnificent flavor tango.

If we had a high-season for bone broth, it would be fall. But it’s not just the shifting weather and falling leaves that have us sipping more steamy broth—it’s also our bodies telling us we need that immune system bump as noses start to run and coughing becomes commonplace.

Thus the inspiration for our Coq au Vin, a traditionally French dish of chicken braised with wine and mushrooms. We fire it up with our chicken bone broth and some bacon for a slightly different take on the French classic.

Our Coq au Vin is a simple one-pan dish that takes less than an hour from prep time to table. The lingering benefit is that it makes the house smell heavenly, so don’t be surprised if your neighbors come a-knocking.

Serve this dish on its own, over quinoa, or with a side of duck-fat roasted potatoes and wilted greens.

Serves 4

1 pound chicken thighs, skin on (1½ pounds if bone-in)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper (to taste)
4 slices thick-cut bacon, roughly chopped
½ pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 tart apples, peeled and sliced
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup chicken bone broth
2 tablespoons butter

Toss the chicken thighs with thyme, salt, and pepper and sauté in a cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When they are cooked through and the skin is crispy, remove from skillet and set aside on a plate.

In the same pan, cook the chopped bacon for about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and apples and cook until they start to soften, about 8 minutes. Add the white wine and chicken bone broth, plus a pinch of salt and pepper, and lower the heat to medium. Allow the mixture to reduce until the liquid starts to thicken. Then stir in the butter, which will make the sauce all silky. Add the chicken back to the pan.

Learn more about Broth Baby here.

Photos courtesy of Broth Baby.